Born in Southern California, Sheldon Ekland-Olson earned his bachelor’s degree from Seattle Pacific University in 1966, and his doctorate in sociology from the University of Washington five years later. As a postdoctoral fellow at Yale Law School, Ekland-Olson became interested in the criminal justice issues that informed his future research.

After joining the University of Texas at Austin’s Sociology department in 1971, Ekland-Olson authored or co-authored six books, most notably Texas Prisons: The Walls Came Tumbling Down as well as numerous articles. He has held several positions at the university, including Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Executive Vice President and Provost.

Consisting of court, prison, and government records relating to the criminal justice system, the Sheldon Ekland-Olson Papers, 1978-1982, detail the Ruiz v. Estelle case, which was used in writing Ekland-Olson’s book, Texas Prisons: The Walls Came Tumbling Down. Trial transcripts from the case comprise the bulk of the collection, along with case files of prisoners James Elton Batts and Gus Feist.